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Friday, April 18, 2008
Terrelle Pryor won’t be running in Ohio Stadium … he’s running track
OK, let’s see. Football state title? Check. Basketball state title? Uh huh.
Track? Why not?
(Terrelle) Pryor, a senior at Jeannette, said this week he will run the 200-meter dash for the Jeannette track team. Seriously. “Why not?” Pryor said. “It’s just something to do. Maybe another championship I can win.”
On Saturday, when we convene in Ohio Stadium for the annual blockbuster scrimmage/spring game, the fan favorite as the future of the Ohio State football team might very well be on some high school track in Pennsylvania (although, he might also be in Columbus visiting the game) because he’s competitive.
It’s not enough for Pryor to be All-State in football and basketball, but he’s going for the same in track.
This is actually not a new trick for Pryor. He ran on Jeannette’s track team for part of his freshman year but quit near the end of the season, and one of the reasons was AAU basketball. At the time, he had one of the best 200 times in WPIAL Class AA at 22.7 seconds. Pryor, who has signed with Ohio State to play quarterback, said he plans to run in a few meets with Jeannette this spring and then at the WPIAL qualifier in May. The WPIAL AA championships are May 13 and the PIAA championships May 23-24. Pryor will leave for Ohio State in mid-June.
No matter how exciting Brian Robiskie or James Laurinaitis or Brandon Saine are in the spring game, it won’t be the same without Pryor. From the time we knew Ohio State was one of his favorites, we’ve been scouring YouTube for clips. We want to see this absurdly talented player run over and around defenders while firing passes to a variety of specific spots.
We want more Pryor. One of the benefits of a spring game is the chance to see the early-enrolled players for the first time. Unfortunately for the fans, Pryor isn’t one of those.
This is another example, though, of how Pryor seems to be a fairly normal student. He really seems to like the town and the school, and he has a sincere desire for championships. It’s not like he thinks he’s too big to run high school track. He’s embracing the idea.
The fans on Saturday won’t be able to embrace him in Columbus quite yet.
